It's A Dangerous Business [Threewinds]

[Coci Heavenshield]

..going out your door.



[member="Skoran Threewinds"]

Forest surrounding the Lake of the Dead.

It was as far north as one could go on this continent of Midvinter. Where perpetual ice as thick as rock never melted come the thraw. There is a beauty in this place unlike any other on the planet, extreme and desolate with forest thin .. and cold beyond words. Life had once lived here. And life will again.

Eregon had spent the best part of two months away from his family and longed for the day in which he would return to them. But there was much to do here, the Rangers of Averlorn had told of the dead that walk, a mindless few now without direction but nonetheless dangerous. The mighty battle that had defended their ruler, their soul captor that had used them as instruments of death and wanted more to add to his army. That was years ago now but still they walk.

They would be dispatched quickly enough, that was not the entire purpose of his journey north .. it was to see what could be done for the forests. They had been touched by death as well, a hand of horror laid on them that reduced them to black and ruination. The Aelvar, with great purpose, and in time, will revive them and bring them back to the glory that they once were.

It is deadly silent.

No creature stirs, on the wind from the far far north howls through the dead tall pine. The flaming arrow head lifts, and strong arms pull back the bow string until pressed to lips, his eyes look beyond the shaft of the arrow gaining their sight before the hiss cuts through the air. He is on the mark, the arrow head pierces the chest of the female undead setting her aflame. There is no voices that escapes the gaping flesh rotten mouth as her corrupted body writhes to the ground burning.

 

[Deleted]

He was sure he was heading East, he must be. Charting the movement of the sun, the galaxy’s natural compass, Skoran had his arms tucked under his armpits to keep them out of the chill. His thick brown hide boots were tough for traversing the terrain, and his layers were keeping the body warm, even though parts of his arms were bare. He had been through colder places than this and survived.

His dirty blond hair was tied back, a few loose stands falling down his face and tinged with frost and moisture. The rugged beard was speckled with snow that blew up from the ground or drifted down from dark green trees around him. The wooden axe by his own hand dangled at his side and a rolled up satchel hung over his back.

It was quiet, bar the snow crunching under him and his breathing.

Then, he heard it.

It wasn’t the damn magical Force power, it was his ability to listen and know the land that heard it. Him. Skoran Threewinds. There was nothing the Force could take credit for.

A whistle lasting no more than a second, but one that belonged to an arrow, that unmistakable piercing of the air. A split second later, a low growl. A beast? A hunter? Skoran stopped in his stride and crouched, looking out to where the sound came from and moving around the perimeter, keeping low, trying to see what or who was ahead.

His hand was already on the shaft of his small axe, eyes focused forward. He rounded a couple of trees and beyond the frosty bark was a burning body, engulfed in flame. Skorn squinted, un-deterred by the brutality of what he saw, but more curious as to what was happening. His dark eyes crossed the landscape; the brown stalks of trees, the cracking of the orange fire, and the icy blue frost. Fingers flexed on the shaft.

He stayed low and still, watching for the emergence of the hunter.

[member="Eregon Wuduælfen"]

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

A relaxed arm lowered the bow, and Eregon stood watching the flames eventually die down leaving behind nothing save ash. He sensed the soul of the female rise and become one with the blessed Frostvatn, his head lowered in reverence now the tormented had been released from a hell. These Vinterbound are to be pitied, once the minions of something so powerful and evil the likes of which Midvinter had not seen before, and before that they had been simple folk, or warriors .. men and women that lived their lives in harmony with the planet and that life had been taken from them, now they have no purpose and each one must be give purpose again. That is to walk the fields of the after life, free.

It was not even the snapping of a twig, nor the crunch underfoot of leaves, but a presence of someone close by that caused Eregon's pointed ear to turn in that direction. His eyes slowly shifted to the right of him, his head never turning to indicated that he was aware of the man. But he sensed no malice .. not yet at least. There is a strength about him, oozing from his hidden position so clear it lit up the area. He is blessed, the Frostvatn has seen fit to bestow the grace of it upon him, this alone was enough for Eregon to become curious too. But no Aelvar be him.

"Among the pine dangers lurk", his low voice spoke to the hidden. "Beware the undead, for there is more to come". It was now his head turned with piercing eyes that cut through the bushes and branches to spy the man hidden. Valkyri, thick of body and strong of limb .. wayward? Whatever this man's purpose mattered little to Eregon for now he took stance once more, feet planted firmly on the ground to nook an arrow once more as more Vinterbound lumbered out of the thickets toward them both.

A small group of five undead behind the hidden man bared down on him with nothing but the desire to eat flesh.

The arrow head seemed to burst into flame at will to the onlooker, but Eregon's gift of power from the Frostvatn ignited the tipped oil.

​

[member="Skoran Threewinds"]​

 

[Deleted]

Skoran watched the figure up ahead sorting his arsenal, and he was certain that he was being watched by him. Some sort of…elven warrior? What were they doing here? He span around on his knees at another sound behind him to where the elven warrior was looking and his eyes went wide - Vinterbound.

Cursing, he stood up, axe tight in his hand, and ran forward with an instant map of the five lumbering beasts and how to take them down.

Running straight at the first, he slashed the axe lengthways across the neck, decapitating the beast in seconds. Without waiting, he turned to the right and ducked as an expected thick arm swung out for a hit. Coming back up behind the Vinterbound attacker, the axe was embedded in the beasts skull accompanied by a final swipe to the neck, cleaving the upper chest in two.

Skoran staggered back as a flaming arrow whistled past to thud into the next Vinterbound and engulfing the beast in flames that spat out intense heat as the flailing body stumbled and fell forward. Two to go.

He stayed light on his feet, beckoning the closest beast, who swung once, but was ready to counter Skoran and as he came up with the axe, he lunged forward with a nasty shoulder barge and sent him splayed out back on the ground below, dishevelled and covered in dirt and frost.

Another flaming arrow. It whistled and impacted in the head of the closest Vinterbound and the flames dripped down to engulf the body.

Skoran used it as the distraction he needed and rolled backwards, span the axe in his palm and threw it with all his might towards the final beast, landing a direct impact in the chest and knocking it backwards.

It was incapacitated enough for the man to walk over, reclaim his axe with a sickening slice of flesh before applying it one last time to take the head.

And then, once more, silence, bar the crackling of the flames. He was now more than exposed to the elven warrior, and held the bloodied axe tight, looking across the frosty woodland to him.

”These things looking for you? This the sort of trouble your kind bring to my home?”

[member="Eregon Wuduælfen"]

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

The sound of his feet pressing against the ground could not be heard, so light his touch to the ground. Eregon stopped next to the man holding the axe with bow lowered and watching the burning of the corpses, the rest had been dispatched and lay with bones scattered among the pine nettles, pieces of rotten rag and flesh the only sign that they had once been brave men warriors of Midvinter. Eregon lowered his head and closed his eyes, giving reverence to them .. to their past lives not the ones just now. "These things as you call them, were once men like you and me, proud and strong before they had been turned to the darkness. It had not been their desire but forced upon them but now they walk in the realm of the dead at peace".

Eregon turned his head to look at the proud defiant man beside him, "They are after all of us". He walked over to the burning bodies still with arrow in their gut and retrieved them, no point in wasting arrows, he checked them each and every one for damage from the fire and disgarded any that was beyond use.

"The Vinterbound come from the far north, they travel the land looking for flesh as this is their only purpose now", since their controlling leader had been destroyed by the High King Dawnbringer and his sons, they became senseless creatures. "If anyone brought this to Midvinter .. it was the realm of men".

"May I have your name good sir, I am Eregon Wuduælfen of the Aelvar".

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[member="Skoran Threewinds"]​